


Michael and Pam: A Love Story

by avgardner1



Category: The Office (US)
Genre: Dating, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Love, Love Confessions, Marriage, Marriage Proposal, Romance, Slow Burn, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 03:42:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19985509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avgardner1/pseuds/avgardner1
Summary: Michael and Pam's relationship apparently caught the attention of the documentary crew from the very first moments, as their constant joking and quick exchanges hinted that they both had deeper feelings for each other.





	1. Chapter 1

“You know.. ever since I met Holly.. I’ve been kind of cold to her,” Pam admitted to the camera crew, sniffling from her crying. “And there’s no reason for it… it’s not like she did anything to me.. so I think I should not be cold to her. Give her a chance.”

Pam forced a small smile and sighed heavily, fidgeting with her fingers. 

She saw Holly walk into the office to meet Michael who was out for a moment. She sat down at the chairs next to the receptionist desk where Erin is working. Pam rose from her seat next to Dwight and walked over to Holly.

“Hey..” Pam started, feeling slightly uncomfortable. Holly looked up and smiled small. “Look, um, I’ve been acting a little… I just wanted to apologize for being distant. I’ve been going through some personal stuff.”

“It’s ok Pam, forget it,” Holly smiled which relaxed Pam a little bit. “You must be a nice person, from what I’ve heard from Michael. He says that you're his best friend.” 

“Oh… thanks,” Pam managed to say, shocked that Michael talked about her that much behind closed doors. “Yeah, we get along great. So, um, do you want to hang out sometime when you are here? Get a coffee in the breakroom?”

“I have some time now… if you aren't busy,” Holly suggested. “I arrived a little earlier than I thought. Michael shouldn't be back for a while.”

“Yeah, sure, ok,” Pam said with a small smile as Holly rose from her seat as they walked to the break room to get some coffee brewing. 

* * *

Pam realized that she had more in common with Holly than she thought. They both enjoyed the same reality TV shows and liked to give back to the community by doing charity events and other things. They also like to do similar activities on their days off.

But it still hurt that Michael found someone that is similar to her in personality.

“You're kidding!” Pam said as she laughed, pushing her thoughts about Michael’s relationship with her. She tried to just think of her as a friend.

“No, I’m not,” Holly replied with a smile. “I never saw anyone walk around to the same booth three times to repeat the same question over and over…. then our co-worker finally snapped.”

“Oh no,” Pam says covering her mouth to quiet down her giggles. “That must’ve been awkward.”

Holly nodded, “Yeah, it was. No one knew where to look or what to do to help.”

“I bet.”

Pam and Holly quieted down from their fits of giggles and sat in comfortable silence for a bit.

“You are a really nice person,” Pam says breaking the silence, as Holly gave her a warm smile that set her nerves at ease. “Again, I’m sorry I was cold to you…”

“No need to explain Pam, I get it,” Holly says, cutting Pam off seeing the awkwardness in her expression and hearing it in her tone.

Pam smiled, then it faded a little as she spoke, “Thank you. You and Michael deserve each other.”

Holly’s smile faded a bit as well, to see that there was a hint of sadness on Pam’s face… and that made her suspicious. Why did Pam seem to be affected by her relationship with Michael? Is she jealous? Holly snapped out of her thoughts and sighed, feeling like she was in denial that she and Michael weren’t in a great place in their relationship.

“Yeah, um, thanks,” Holly says as she cleared her throat, forcing a smile. “I’m sure you’ll find someone too.” 

That comment was a knife in the heart for Pam. She smirked a bit and sighed, trying to stay positive.

* * *

Michael returned from his meeting with David Wallace. He walked back inside the office and greeted Erin at the receptionist desk.

“Welcome back, Michael,” Erin says with a smile. “How was your meeting?”

“It was good,” Michael replies, trying not to notice Pam in the break room with his fiancée, Holly. For whatever reason, seeing them together really bothered him. He had feelings for both women, and it just confused everything he felt about both of them as individuals even more.

“Oh, and Holly is here,” Erin said breaking the silence. “I think she’s in the break room with Pam.”

“Yeah, I can see that, Erin,” Michael snapped a little more harshly than he intended. 

Erin just looked at him feeling very uncomfortable now, and went back to typing on the computer.

Michael is facing the camera crew in his office, clearly uncomfortable and not really sure how to feel.

“So I guess, Holly and Pam are friends now,” Michael says after a moment of silence, forcing a smile. “Not that there's anything wrong with that… Pam can be friends with anyone she wants!”

Michael stood up and marched out of the room without a reply from any of the camera crew workers. He shut the door on the way out.


	2. Booze Cruise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael takes the whole office on a cruise! Lots of drama occurs between Michael and Pam... and Roy.

Holly smiled and then started to feel regret that they haven’t set a date for their wedding. She looked at Michael who was sitting down at a booth, clearly upset. She sighed, realizing that she was being selfish to him. They really should set a date for their wedding, instead of continuing to put it off. 

She took the Microphone and sighed. 

“Hey, can I get everyone's attention just for a moment,” Holly said as everyone settled down. 

Michael looked at her confused. He quickly got up and walked over to the stage, trying not to feel humiliated that everyone’s eyes were on them. 

“Hun, what are you doing?” he asked, feeling a little embarrassed.

“Michael, you wanted to get married earlier than this, and I kept shooting you down,” Holly started. 

Michael eyes filled with tears feeling mixed emotions. He started to remember the times that he had with Holly, the intimate times. When he met Holly, falling in love with her wasn’t a hard thing to do. She was attractive and very sweet, and they got along almost instantly. But over time, their relationship became strained and Michael is finding it harder to maintain his romantic feelings for her. He still loves her, but it’s complicated now.

“I'm sorry. I really am. I should've considered your feelings too. So, I think enough is enough. We should set a date for our wedding. How about January 15th?”

Michael was full of emotion and just nodded. Holly leaned up and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Michael hugged her back, not sure what else to say or do at the moment. He was so shocked that Holly actually set a date for their wedding. He knew that he’s committed to Holly, but he never really thought that they would actually get married after waiting three full years. 

They broke apart and Pam just looked at the couple and sighed upset. She’s so heartbroken that Michael chose to stay with Holly and actually get married. When Michael and Holly were just engaged, it left her a glimmer of hope that something would work out. Michael would figure it out and end it, or Holly would do it.

Now it all feels so real, and it absolutely sucks. 

“Hey,” Roy said sitting down next to her at their booth. “Isn't that great?”

“Yeah,” Pam said quietly in a sarcastic way. “Super.”

Pam wanted to be happy for Michael, she really did. He obviously found happiness in the arms of Holly, and that’s all she ever wanted for him. Happiness. But, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t be fully happy for Michael. A part of her always had Michael in the back of her mind.

“Do you that'll ever be us?” Roy asked as he kissed her cheek.

“Roy, I need to say something,” Pam said with tears in her eyes, “I don't know how to tell you this, but I don't think I can see you anymore.”

“What?” Roy asked in a low tone. Pam started crying, she couldn’t be with someone else that wasn’t Michael. She couldn’t pretend to like Roy and lead him on like that. It wasn’t fair to him, not at all. 

“Look, this is just as hard on me as it is on you,” Pam said quietly, trying not to look at Roy directly in the eyes. That would make things so much harder for her. She’s already having a tough enough time finding the courage to break up with him. “We don't work. We are too different with completely different interests. And that bothers me.”

“Pam, I can learn to like what you like,” Roy said almost begging for her to give them another chance. He really liked Pam and felt that she is giving up on their relationship too quickly. They have only been dating for a month. “Pam, please don't do this.”

“It isn't just that, Roy. We can't work,” Pam said, sniffling from her quiet sobs to herself. “I’m sorry.”

“That's it, you're dumping me?” Roy said angrily standing up attracting attention. 

“Yes,” Pam said with tears streaming down her cheeks, feeling humiliated that Roy is making a huge scene in front of all her co-workers, friends and especially Michael. She didn’t want Michael to witness her crying and Roy yelling at her.

“Roy, please calm down.”

“Pam, just to let you know, you are making a mistake,” Roy said before storming to the other side of the boat.. Pam was then crying uncontrollably into her hands, exploding all of her feelings. 

Dwight uncomfortably walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. 

“There, there,” Dwight said. Pam cried harder, then walked out of the room outside on the deck, trying to get away from everyone. She didn’t want to speak to one person who saw the breakup and Roy’s blow up.

* * *

Pam finally stopped crying as Jim walked out on deck, hoping to help Pam through her break up. He knew it might be a bit awkward because he and Pam has a little summer fling last year and they haven’t really spoken much since. 

“I'm sorry about you and Roy,” he said, trying to act as casual as possible. Pam needed him to be her friend, and that’s all he wanted out of this relationship. He’s with Karen and couldn’t be happier. 

“Yeah, well, we weren't meant to be,” Pam said, looking off into the distance of the lake. There was a moment of silence, then she spoke up again, “What a night.”

“It was kinda good, your boss got engaged,” Jim said with a smile, trying to change the topic, not realizing that Pam is very sensitive about Michael.

“He was already engaged,” Pam said, trying to fight back her tears, still looking out at the lake. 

“I stand corrected,” Jim said with a chuckle. Pam then turned around smiled at him. Jim really is very sweet and she wanted to stay friends, and clearly she can see that he wanted that too. Pam felt very fortunate to have a sincere and trustworthy friend in a painful time like this. 

“You know, I used to have a big thing for Michael,” Pam admitted out loud. She felt like a huge weight has been lifted off her shoulders, never telling anyone that she liked Michael. Jim seemed like someone she could trust and admit things to, without getting judged for it.

Jim's eyes widened and eyebrows rose quickly. He tried to picture Michael and Pam together, but it wasn’t that easy. Maybe that’s because he hasn’t been around the two of them long enough to actually see the connection. Living in Stamford with Karen made his connections with the Scraton branch harder to maintain. 

The more he thought about it, the more he saw the attraction. Pam seems to know a lot about Michael, how to deal with his quirks and jokes, how to calm him down when he’s upset or making an immature and childish scene in front of everyone… and they seem to get along well, sharing similar personality traits and other things like jokes and minor pranks. 

“Really? You and Michael? Wow, I didn't know,” Jim said stunned that Pam actually admitted her inner feelings. He felt honoured that Pam trusted him that much as a friend to be able to tell him personal things. “You two really hit it off from what I have seen.”

“Yeah,” Pam said with a chuckle, then she went off into a ramble of all the things she really loves about her boss, “I don't know, he's funny. Determined, has a great sense of humor. He's lovable, kind, and sweet. He's easy to talk to, and he sometimes gets irritating, but in a child like, weird way. When he brainstorms, he always thinks outside the box, like, great, big ideas that will never work, but he’ll go for it. Always. He likes my art, always trying to make everyday a fun day, and tries to cheer people up when they are down.. even though you don't want to hear it, he’ll tell you anyways. Because he's caring and thoughtful. Always putting his friends before him--”

“Wow,” Jim said surprised and out of breath. “That's plenty more then what I needed to know. Pam, this sounds like love.”

“Yeah, I think it is,” Pam said, admitting the truth to herself, which made things so much harder for her to cope with Michael actually setting a wedding date to marry Holly. 

“If you love him, don't give up,” Jim said, truthfully. He never gave up on love after having a fling with Pam… then he found Karen, who is the best thing that ever happened to him.

“But he's engaged,” Pam said quietly, just about ready to give up waiting for Michael to be single and ready to date again. 

“Engaged isn't married,” Jim replies, sincerely, gripping Pam’s shoulder and squeezed gently. “Pam, never, ever, ever give up.”

Pam smiles and nods.

* * *

Pam talks to the camera crew when she enters the boat again. 

“Yeah, I think I might apply to go back to school,” Pam admitted before getting up and walks away past Michael and Holly. Michael just watches her leave the room and sighs, seeing that she was clearly upset. 

Michael walked after Pam who tried to leave the boat, but Michael grabbed Pam’s arm and turned her around. He couldn’t let Pam leave distressed. If it is his fault that Pam is so upset, then he wanted to find out what it is and so he can fix it. Pam may not be upset with him, and it could be about her breakup with Roy. But whatever the reason is, he wanted to help her feel better. 

“Listen Pam…” Michael started but Pam turned around and kissed Michael. She wanted to get her feelings out of her system because this may be the last time she would ever be able to kiss Michael properly. 

Instead of pushing her away, he surprisingly adjusted into the kiss. For whatever reason, he couldn’t push Pam away, and it felt so good to kiss her sweet and soft lips. Everything he felt about Holly just washed away and he could only think of how beautiful and attractive Pam is, resting her hands on his shoulders, kissing him. 

Pam broke away out of breath.

“Um, that was..” Michael said shocked, feeling incredibly confused. He did want the kiss to continue, but he couldn’t hurt Holly in any shape or form. He really loved Holly in many different ways, but he couldn’t figure out if they were romantic feelings or not. 

“I'm sorry,” Pam said quietly, holding onto his hands tightly, but wanting to let Michael leave this moment with her. “Um, I guess we're both drunk.”

“I'm not drunk, are you?”

“No,” Pam said shaking her head slowly. They just stared at each other, unsure of what to say next.

**Author's Note:**

> Note: Michael and Holly have been engaged for 3 years with no set date to get married. Sorry I didn’t mention it before in the pilot chapter, but I assumed that you guys would pick up on that. 
> 
> Anyways, let me know your thoughts in the comment section and leave kudos! Let me know if I should continue or not.


End file.
